Juventus’ quest to end the 22-year-old Champions League drought will start off with a challenging but not feasible group as as the Nyon draw paired them up with Manchester United, Valencia and Young Boys. The other Serie A participants were not particularly lucky as Napoli ended up in the group of death with PSG, Liverpool and Red Star Belgrade, Inter will face Barcelona, Tottenham and PSV Eindhoven, while things went a little better for Roma, whose group comprises Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen.
The most fascinating matches will undoubtedly be the ones against Manchester United, where Paul Pogba will return to Turin for the first time as an enemy and Cristiano Ronaldo will play against the team that saw him blossom into a global phenomenon. The Red Devils last won the big-eared cup in 2008, when the Portuguese ace was still there.
They were caught by surprise by Sevilla and bowed out in the round of 2016 last season. They lifted Europa League in 2017, while the year prior to that they were eliminated in the first stage in the main continental competition. In Premier League, they finished second last season behind the formidable City, but José Mourinho is currently on the hot seat for a slow start, where they lost two out three games and there appears to be some friction in the locker room.
It has been a while since the Bianconeri faced the English club: the last time came in 2003, when United easily defeated them in the round of 16. The two clubs collected five wins each in the previous 12 encounters between Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winner’s Cup, sharing the spoils in the remaining two.
Valencia brilliantly finished fourth last season in La Liga, therefore returning to the Champions League after a two-year absence. They never won the competion, but they were runner-up twice at the beginning of the millennium. Juventus made few deals with the Murcielagos in recent years, acquiring Joao Cancelo this summer and previously selling to them Norberto Neto and Simone Zaza.
Young Boys won the Swiss league last season and, after three attempts, they finally made it to the group stage, besting Dinamo Zagreb in the play-off. They were bumped off Europa League at the group stage in the last two editions. Juventus never faced the Spanish nor the Bern-based side in their history.
Pick your stars and fight with other Fantasy Managers at www.fantasy-champions-league.com
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com